Employees at Windham Community Memorial Hospital in Willimantic, Conn., have voted to remove American Federation of Teachers as their bargaining representative, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
The vote was 168-70 in favor of union decertification.
According to a news release from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Windham Hospital employee Sara Doner filed a petition with the NLRB on behalf of her colleagues requesting the board hold an election on whether to decertify the union. The election occurred in February.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, union leaders raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding the vote. Andrea Riley, RN, president of the Windham Hospital Federation of Professional Nurses, said nurses “had a front row seat” to the process, while AFT Connecticut Vice President John Brady said the health system offered improved pay and benefits ahead of the election.
Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare, the hospital’s parent organization, declined to comment.
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